The OccupyUSA Blog for Tuesday (Feb. 7), With Frequent Updates

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/166102/occupyusa-blog-tuesday-feb-7-frequent-updates

6:50 NYT on GOPers upset with that Chrysler / Eastwood "partisan" Super Bowl ad allegedly backing bailouts and hintiing Obama needs another "half" to fiinish job.

12:05 Great weekly roundup from the Occupied Wall Street Journal on actions around U.S. and latest debate and backlash over tactics and divisions. Includes this: "The mainstream media is now portraying the movement as split over tactics and conflicted about the role of black bloc affinity groups in direct actions. While these issues – like every other issue – are continually debated within the movement, portrayals of Occupy as divisible were met with widespread backlash."

From late Monday

Full schedule of events for "Occupy KochTown" Feb. 17-19 in, naturally, Wichita. ... National Lawyers Guild moves to quash subpoena for OWS Twitter user in New York.

Since this seems to be the Topic of the Day, here is an Infoshop guide, or as they call it, "Black Blocs for Dummies." Sample: "Isn't the black bloc just a bunch of young hooligans? Black blocs have been comprised of people of many different ages. While participants in black blocs tend to be young--reflecting the demographic of most protesters--there have been quite a few people over the age of 30 in black blocs. There have been reports of black bloc participants who are in their 50s and 60s."

From my assistant Elizabeth Whitman: "For those who want to join the growing movement for the greater good, The Green America blog of GreenAmerica.org suggests ten reasons to break up with your mega-bank, including supporting local and small businesses and not funding climate change. What they call for echoes much of the changes or actions Occupiers have called for or rely on. They suggest some of the same empowerment tactics, such as switching from large commercial banks to credit unions."

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1. k&r

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2. thanks for posting this

Keep up the good work.

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/166102/occupyusa-blog-tuesday-feb-7-frequent-updates

9:40 Evicted homeowner refuses to leave, supporters camp out in support... Despite threat, Pittsburgh camp still not evicted...

9:10 Obama comes out for constitutional amendment on Citizens United, a pet OWS issue.... The Army's "gold-plated guns." .... Joe Stiglitz's latest, on crisis in Europe. ... Obama has prime chance to reduce our nuclear arsenal, but will he do it -- in an election year?

9:00 Today's Occupy song pick of the day: One of the greatest American songs ever, Stephen Foster's "Hard Times (Come Again No More&quot . I posted other versions, from Dylan to Thomas Hampson, now here's the McGarrigle Sisters with guests including Rufus Wainwright and Emmylou Harris.

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/166102/occupyusa-blog-tuesday-feb-7-frequent-updates

11:55 From my assistant Elizabeth Whitman: A Javelin Strategy & Research study found that the approximately 610,000 people who switched to a smaller banking institution in the last three months of 2011 to protest potential debit card usage fees comprised only 11 percent of the 5.6 million people who switched banks during that period. However, while the proportion seems relatively small, noted the report, it pointed out that November 2011's "Bank Transfer Day," an effort that encouraged people to move their money to credit unions and smaller banks (it was not directly linked to Occupy Wall Street but certainly had ideological parallels), had a greater impact than similar movements in years past, such as the Huffington Post's "Move Your Money" day in 2008.

11:50 Bill McKibben: How the Energy-Industrial Elite really has it in for our planet.... Former Sen. Russ Feingold: Obama wrong to support movement against Citizens United ruling.

11:40 Krugman blogs: GOP returning focus to "values" to distract attention from soaring incomes at top and income disparity.... AdBusters outlines what's ahead at Chicago demos this spring...You think Birtherism dead? New poll finds 37% of GOPers still think Obama born in another land.

11:30 Interesting piece at The Atlantic site on how Occupy and its sense of "place" has changed urban government. "At its core, Occupy Wall Street was a place-based movement. In commandeering urban public spaces as sites of protest, the movement marked an implicit challenge to the reigning model of urban governance in which place is irrelevant."